Allied Health Professionals
What Drives Their EHR Experience?
Allied health professionals (also often called ancillary care providers) are a group of EHR users that have—until now—received less focus in Arch Collaborative reports. This study shares core findings about this group of users and their EHR experience.
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A Wide Spectrum of Allied Health Roles
The main allied health roles represented in this data are pharmacists, followed by physical therapists and technologists. Social workers, technicians, occupational therapists, dietitians/nutritionists, respiratory therapists, counselors, speech therapists, and clinical laboratory scientists each make up less than 10% of surveyed allied health professionals. At least a dozen organizations are represented in each role type. Other allied health roles with very small numbers of respondents (e.g., audiologist, chaplain) appear in other Collaborative data but are not represented here.
Technicians Are Most Satisfied with the EHR; Counselors Are Least Satisfied
Of these allied health role types, technicians have the highest average Net EHR Experience Score† (NEES), followed by technologists and pharmacists. Counselors have the lowest NEES; speech therapists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists also have an average NEES of less than 20.0. Physical therapists are the second-largest allied health group within the Arch Collaborative’s data, so targeting them for EHR satisfaction improvement could have a high impact.
In aggregate, allied health professionals have an average EHR experience compared to other user types, with an NEES a few points behind nurses and advanced practice providers (APPs). However, they score more than 20 points higher than physicians, who are the least satisfied EHR users in Arch Collaborative data.
† The Net EHR Experience Score is a snapshot of clinicians’ overall satisfaction with the EHR environment(s) at their organization. The survey asks respondents to rate factors such as the EHR’s efficiency, functionality, impact on care, and so on. The Net EHR Experience Score is calculated by subtracting the percent of negative user feedback from the percent of positive user feedback. Net EHR Experience Scores can range from -100 (all negative feedback) to 100 (all positive feedback).
Across Specialties, Allied Health Professionals in Pediatrics Struggle the Most with the EHR
The EHR Experience Survey also asks allied health professionals to share their specialty or focus area. Those in radiology have the highest NEES on average, followed by those in hospital medicine and gynecology & obstetrics. Allied health professionals in pediatrics have the lowest NEES—almost 9 points lower than the next-most-satisfied specialties (general surgery, physical rehabilitation, and critical care).
For additional analysis that looks at allied health professionals through the lenses of training, governance, EHR personalization, and wellness, please see the Expanded Insights section in the full report.
What Is the KLAS Arch Collaborative?
The Arch Collaborative is a group of healthcare organizations committed to improving the EHR experience through standardized surveys and benchmarking. To date, over 250 healthcare organizations have surveyed their end users and over 240,000 clinicians have responded. Impact reports such as this one seek to synthesize the feedback from these clinicians into actionable insights that organizations can use to revolutionize patient care by unlocking the potential of the EHR. To participate in the Arch Collaborative, go to https://engage.klasresearch.com/klas-arch-collaborative/.
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This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2019 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.